BENGALURU TURNS FORTRESS

Prohibitory orders imposed in Bengaluru city

BENGALURU: With just two days left for the Karnataka Assembly elections, Bengaluru City Police Commissioner T. Suneel Kumar on Thursday imposed prohibitory orders under section 144 in the city. “In view of Karnataka Legislative Assembly 2018, The Commissioner of Police, @Blrcitypolice has passed Prohibitory Orders in Bengaluru City commissionerate jurisdiction, as precautionary measure. @ CPBLR,” tweeted the commissioner's office with a copy of the order.

The police have banned the sale of liquor at stores, restaurants, and pubs for 72 hours in the run-up to the elections. Gathering of five or more persons, bursting of crackers, taking out political and religious processions, have also been restricted. The political parties are allowed to perform door-to-door campaign about 48 hours before the election, but in groups not more than 10 persons. The people who want to perform religious events and personal functions, including weddings, should take the required permissions from the authorities concerned.

The 72-hour restrictions will be relaxed on Sunday 6 pm and the prohibitory orders will come back into effect on Monday evening as the counting of votes for May 12 elections will take place on Tuesday.

On the security front, “about 15,000 civil police, and 5,000 armed security personnel have been deployed” said a source in the police department. About 16 DCPS and ACPS will supervise the security arrangements.

Out of 224 constituencies, the polling will be held for 223 seats on Saturday. The election for Jayanagar assembly constituency was postponed after its sitting BJP MLA B N Vijaykumar passed away last week due to cardiac arrest.

The tenure of the current Karnataka government-led by Congress party will come to end on May 28. Karnataka will go to polls on May 12, while counting has been scheduled for May 15.